Twins Fire Terry Ryan

The Minnesota Twins have fired Terry Ryan, the two-term general manager who first joined the organization in 1972 as a player.

Ryan has been GM since November 2011, his second stint after serving from September 1994 through the end of the 2007 season. Assistant GM Rob Antony was installed as interim GM and inherits a team challenging for the worst record in baseball at 33-58.

Ryan, who missed part of the 2014 season due to treatments for cancer in his neck, said in a statement, “While disappointed we were unable to bring Minnesota a third World (Series) Championship, I leave the GM post with immense pride in being part of the Twins organization for the better part of three decades.”

With two weeks left in the non-waiver trading period, Twins owner Jim Pohlad has entrusted the franchise to Antony, who has a few assets such as veteran righthander Ervin Santana and catcher Kurt Suzuki. Pohlad called Ryan a “dedicated, loyal and respect member of the Minnesota Twins family” in a statement but made the change at an intriguing time considering the looming trade deadline.

Pohlad said the decision to fire Ryan, 62, was “difficult, painful and not obvious.” Who replaces Ryan on a permanent basis also isn’t obvious. Antony has worked his way up the organization to his current post over 29 seasons in the organization and is in his ninth year as assistant GM. He previously was director of baseball operations for a dozen years but started as an assistant director of media relations in 1988, and served as media relations director from June 1991-December 1995.

The other internal candidates would seem to be Mike Radcliff, the former scouting director who is now vice president of player personnel, and major league scout Wayne Krivsky, a former Twins assistant GM who came back to the organization after serving as Cincinnati’s general manager for the 2006-2007 seasons before being fired in April 2008.

Krivsky came back to the Twins, as did Bill Smith, GM from 2008-11 who now serves as special assistant to the GM and president David St. Peter. It was unclear if Ryan was offered a position with the organization.

Ryan’s first GM stint was a rousing success, as Minnesota rebuilt its farm system and won the American League Central six times from 2002-2010. However, the Twins have had only one winning season since then, going 83-79 last season before backsliding this year.

One key to the stretch has been a development system that has hit a dry stretch. The Twins have developed position players, but bats such as Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario and others often struggle when they first get to the majors or have had difficulty making adjustments to stay there. And pitching development remains the franchise’s Achilles’ heel. The Twins haven’t drafted and developed a first-division starting pitcher since Matt Garza, a 2005 pick traded to the Rays in the ill-fated Delmon Young deal after the 2007 season.

Since then, Minnesota lost pitching coordinator Rick Knapp, replacing him with Eric Rasmussen, and has focused more on drafting power arms rather than command-oriented pitchers (such as Kevin Slowey, Scott Baker and Nick Blackburn) it was noted for in its 2002-10 run of success.

Rasmussen currently is serving as interim big league pitching coach, replacing Neil Allen after Allen was arrested following a DUI. The Twins also haven’t had a minor league hitting coordinator for the past two seasons.

So not only are the Twins struggling in the major leagues, they are not living up to their own past standards in the minors. Ultimately, those are reasons why Ryan, even with his history with the organization, was relieved.